Telephone service technicians correct problems along telephone lines, whether on telephone poles, in splice pits, in manholes, or at customer premises. Oftentimes, telephone service technicians have a need to find out telephone line assignment information to determine how to repair or otherwise correct a problem on the telephone lines to which a customer telephone is or should be connected. The telephone line assignment information typically includes cable, pair, and terminal, as well as telephone number, customer information, etc.
To assist telephone service technicians in making repairs, telecommunication service providers provide a couple of options for the telephone service technicians to access the telephone line assignment information, including call centers and websites. Call centers allow the telephone service technicians to call up a call center service operator to provide telephone line assignment information while on a job site. However, as well understood by telephone service technicians, the call centers can be congested and take up to 15 minutes to reach a call center service operator, which is highly inefficient, both in time and labor costs, and frustrating when the telephone service technician is operating on a pole, in a manhole, or during inclement weather. It is estimated that approximately 48 percent (440,000 calls) of calls made to the call centers are related to facilities charges and calls for information. Of this total, approximately 25 percent (110,000) of the calls are from telephone service technicians.
A website allows the telephone service technicians to more quickly access the telephone line assignment information via a laptop computer with wireless access. However, laptop computers are not always possible to use when working outdoors, in dirty environments, or confined spaces.